Earthquakes 2, Wizards 0 -- quote sheet

January 22, 2010

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 2, KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 0

San Jose Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear

On the game

"I thought our performance was excellent. In the first half we played very well. We knew in the second half Kansas City was going to come out and try to attack, so we figured that we had to stay solid defensivley and try to break out well and create chances, and we did. It was a well earned victory and an important three points.

"Our defense played well today, obviously we had some help from the crossbar and the post, but Pat [Onstad] made some good saves as well. As long as they held tight and were honest defensively, we knew that we would be okay. They were tenacious and didn't give up anything easy today."

On Brian Ching and Landon Donovan playing together

"They work together probably the best of any two forwards in the league. If you go back to last year, they were forming a great partnership before Brian got hurt. Now they are both healthy and it is a difficult task for any defender to try to defend against both of them."

Earthquakes forward Landon Donovan

On the game

"I felt really good in the first half and I was able to get into some pretty good situations on the field. The first goal was a great cross from Brian Mullan and you try to get into that spot for that very reason. We didn't play our best today, but we played well enough to win."

Earthquakes forward Brian Ching

On the game

"Im just happy that we came out of here with three points and we are heading in the right direction. Hopefully now we can get on a roll."

Earthquakes goalkeeper Pat Onstad

On the Earthquakes defense

"I thought once we got a 2-0 lead, we sat in and soaked it up. From the fornt to the back, we didn't give them any free service in the box and the guys did a great job today. It was a good defensive performance again and we deserved to win today."

Kansas City Wizards head coach Bob Gansler

On the game and Landon Donovan

"He is a good player and he needs to be accounted for. We were tentative for whatever reason and offensively we didn't put much together. It was certainly one of our lesser efforts. There is no one in this locker room that comes in saying, 'Today we are going to stink it up.' We went out there with the conviction that we are good enough to win it, we just didn't get it done.

"What you need is some confidence, a spark, and we couldn't get one. Igor pings one off the woodwork and it goes 120 yards the other way for a goal in milliseconds. The second one that Igor pings off the crossbar we needed, we needed something to jolt ourselves. Obviously my words beforehand weren't the right ones and my words at halftime weren't the right ones. It was a lesser day for all of us."

On the return of Igor Simutenkov

"Igor is a master technician and he showed it by the way he reads the game. For sure, before he pinged that one off the post we said where has he been because he was not that apparent. He is going to help us going forward, but as luck would have it things weren't pinging his way today. We know what we got in him and we know what we got in Preki, but we have to make it work."

Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad

On the game

"We didn't do very well with our one nationally televised game. San Jose was very well organized. It was a game of who was going to score first. Igor hit the post and about 30 seconds later they scored. If Igor's goes in, it is a completely different ballgame. That is part of this sport and we just need to regroup and focus on the next game."

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